Hutterite Society

"Of hundreds of recorded attempts to establish communal societies in North America, the Hutterites are the only group that has managed not only to survive but to expand and prosper. Yet the members work without the incentive of private gain, and privileged positions are few. There are no extremely poor or wealthy persons among them, and individuals never worry about food, shelter, clothing or dependency in old age. Identity problems and alienation are virtually nonexistent. In their history, which spans more than four centuries, there has never been a single homicide. There are no high walls around the colony and no police force." -- from "Hutterite Society"

Written to mark the centennial of the Hutterites' arrival in North America, John Hostetler's acclaimed study traces their history from the founding of their society over four centuries ago to the early 1970s, and analyzes their social and cultural organization, the difficulties of communal living. and their strategies for survival.

"A fine study of the oldest Western communal society, originally Moravian, who live now on the American and Canadian plains." -- "New York Times Book Review"

"An impressive picture of a people who share the general Anabaptist rejection of worldly thrills and pleasures, but who have a special distinction of their own -- a strict devotion to communal living that has endured with little change for more than four centuries." -- "Time"

" "Hutterite Society," an even more impressive work than Hostetler's earlier "Amish Society," is surely destined to become a minor classic widely read and acclaimed by scholars and the general public." -- "Sociology"

"Essential to any study of Hutterites." -- "American Historical Review"